Gear:
Hasselblad 500CM
Zeiss 120mm Makro Planar
21mm extension tube
55mm extension tube
Recipe:
Rollei Retro 400S
Ilford ID-11
1+1
11 min.
This post is intended to be a simple answer to a friends question.
When using an extension tube does it matter if the lens is set to it’s minimum focus distance or set to infinity?
Yes it does, very much so.
The lens will lose the ability of focusing at the infinity but it does not lose the ability to focus at different distances depending on the distance set on the lens, changing the “magnification” given by the tube.
These are very simple examples and I will write another post about the Rollei Retro 400s.
This first shot was taken with the Zeiss 120mm Makro Planar at the miminum focusing distance which is 0.8m. The height of that little statue is 20cm. (Sorry for the light leak, I will get back to it on another post)
This one was taken with the 21mm extension tube and the lens set to infinity. In fact I’ve “only” added 21mm more to the 120mm focal distance of the lens.
This one was taken with the 21mm extension tube and the lens set to the minimum focusing distance.
No compensation, exposed as indicated by the light meter.
This one was taken with the 55mm extension tube and the lens set to infinity.
Taken with the 55mm extension tube and the lens set to the minimum focusing distance.
Again, no exposure compensation. All shots were taken at 1/250 f5.6.
Cooking Film 
The light leak in the last photo gives the picture a religious air!!
🙂 That’s the “kind” way of looking at the picture. I’m not certain that it’s a light leak. It’s not the first time I get this when using the 55mm tube or maybe it’s just the bad backing paper of the Rollei Retro….
I will check it out tomorrow.
I’ve just bought a 120 Makro Planar and look forward to using it. Thanks for this post
The 120mm is my all around lens on the Hasselblad and every time I look at the results I’m amazed by the sharpness and detail it delivers. It is my queen lens 🙂